Plane crash at Peterborough airport June 7, 2014

PETERBOROUGH, Ont. - A small plane that crashed at the Peterborough Municipal Airport this morning has been extricated from the swamp at the end of the main runway.

The G4 plane was on its nose about 300 metres off the end of the main runway, in a swamp, leaking a small amount of fuel.

The male pilot was admitted to the Peterborough Regional Health Centre with undetermined injuries and was released later in the day.

The crash about 9:30 a.m. after the pilot radioed in about engine trouble, says airport manager Trent Gervais. The facility's emergency plan was activated, bringing in fire crews and paramedics.

The plane landed in a swampy area just east of the runway, with its tail resting on a stump, separated from the runway by a four-foot fence designed to keep wildlife off the tarmac. A cross runway was opened for other flights as crews try to work out the logistics of how to remove the plane from the shrubs and muck.

If the crash has happened on the side of the runway, the incident would have been a severity of two out of 10, Mr. Gervais says. However, given its location, it has escalated to a 7 or 8 out of 10, he adds.

That said, if that area hadn't been cleared of larger stumps in recent years, the pilot would have been more seriously injured, he says.

An excavator and crane may be needed to get the plane back to the runway, so Mr. Gervais and his staff worked through those logistics this afternoon.